Short bio:

I have been a licensed attorney for more than a decade and my specialty is what is known as "foreign language document review" of documents in the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish languages. My focus is almost exclusively on litigation and my clients are mostly law firms or companies involved in a law suit where a significant number of the documents are in Norwegian, Swedish, or Danish. The most important aspect my work is to ensure that these foreign language documents are properly categorized before they are produced (turned over to the other side in the law suit). This includes:

- Preventing all completely privileged documents from being produced by accident
- Redacting partially privileged documents so that everything encompassed by the privilege is completely redacted
- Locating/flagging all documents that are either beneficial or, more importantly, harmful to the client's case

There are four things that set me apart from most other attorneys doing this type of highly specialized work:

1. I am a native speaker and writer of Norwegian. A college degree or minor in Norwegian is NOT the basis on which I hire myself out as a "Scandinavian language reviewer." Translation is an add-on service in case my clients (a) want to know the contents of a foreign language document quickly and without having it formally translated, or (b) need oral or written summaries of the contents of a high number of foreign language documents.

2. I have worked on several large, complex cases for some of the biggest law firms in the business. Regardless of what the specific project involves, I always deliver my work product on time and at the level of quality expected at a major law firm. My past experience includes both pharmaceutical/medical and patent cases, and work for both plaintiff and defense side firms.

3. I have a significant amount of prior experience (a) doing second attorney review (2AR) of documents that other foreign language reviewers have coded, and (b) preparing foreign language privilege logs.

4. I code efficiently. My coding speed on past projects has averaged between 60 and 80 documents and hour and I regularly code more than 1,000 documents a day. If your project involves less than 60,000 Scandinavian language documents and there is a reasonable amount of time to complete the work, I can handle the entire project from beginning to end.

Please select the "Contact" tab to send me an email if you need CV/references, or if you are interested in discussing how I can help you with your Scandinavian language project.

Long bio:

I am a licensed attorney and I have been a member of the Minnesota Bar since October 2000. I grew up in a suburb of Oslo, Norway and lived in Norway for almost twenty years before moving to the United States in 1989 to attend college. I am a native level speaker and writer of Norwegian and English. My working languages are English, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish. I am also fluent in French and Italian.

I have a Master's Degree (MA) in Political Science with a focus on Law & Public Policy and International Law from the University of Southern California and I have a law degree (JD) from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Between 1995 and 1998, I was an Arthur Russell Morgan fellow at the University of Cincinnati College of Law's Urban Morgan Institute. As a Morgan fellow, I was a Human Rights Quarterly Journal staff member from 1995 until 1997. After graduating from law school, I clerked for Hennepin County District Court Judge Tony N. Leung (presently US Magistrate Judge Leung). The time spent clerking familiarized me with many aspects of civil and criminal trial practice including discovery, depositions, legal research, rules of evidence, and bench/jury trials.

I specialize in foreign language document review of documents in the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish languages and my focus is almost exclusively on litigation. I have worked on complicated pharmaceutical/medical and patent law cases in the past. As discussed in more detail below, I can also provide translation services to my clients. I bill for each hour of work and I work on a case by case basis, not document by document. I am willing to work as much as 10-12 hours a day and on weekends.

I can work on a 1099 basis or be employed through agencies. I have done both in the past, though my preference is to work as an independent contractor. I have worked for several well known agencies including US Legal Support, The Dine Group and Legal Placements. I have worked for several major law firms, including firms that are among the largest in the world (DLA Piper) and among the largest in their particular field of specialization (Finnegan Henderson). My billing rate depends on whether I am working for an agency (W2), a law firm (1099), or directly for a client involved in litigation.

My past work has included reviewing and coding foreign language documents, letters and emails for responsiveness, privilege and confidentiality. I have also made privilege and confidentiality-based redactions, and I can perform these as part of the review. I am frequently asked to do additional coding to classify documents, for example coding for names of pharmaceuticals, companies and specific words or topics. My speed for regular coding (without redactions or additional coding) has averaged between 60 and 80 documents an hour on past projects and I regularly code more than 1,000 documents a day.

My work on past projects has also included a significant amount of second attorney review (2AR). In addition, I have experience doing second attorney review of privileged documents and I have added coding to privileged documents for inclusion in privilege logs (adding priv authors, priv recipients, priv dates and priv reason/basis). I have also edited several large foreign language privilege logs. One of my recent projects included editing a privilege log with 3,300+ separate documents and 4,800+ Excel spreadsheet entries.

I have travelled to Scandinavia several times to assist with interviews of potential fact witnesses and to take part in harvesting documents. I have also reviewed physical documents while there. I have reviewed/coded documents in French and Italian in the past, and could do so as part of a Scandinavian language review if necessary.

In terms of translation and interpretation, I can provide the following services:

- formal written translation
- oral review/translation of documents
- sequential and real time interpretation

I have translated written documents in all of my working languages in the past, though I have more experience with Norwegian to English and Danish to English than with Swedish to English. I am willing to provide samples of my translations. I have an ongoing relationship with a translation agency in Washington, DC that can certify my translations if they are to be used in court.

I am based in Minneapolis and my preference is to work remotely. I am willing to execute any documents necessary in terms of law firm and/or client requirements. In the past, these have included: conflict forms, confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements and authorization forms. For trial related services, I am willing to be admitted pro hac vice in the jurisdiction where the litigation is going to take place. I am familiar with Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish privacy laws as they relate to foreign language document reviews.

Project size considerations:

- If your project involves less than 60,000 Scandinavian language documents and there is a reasonable amount of time to complete the work, I can handle the entire project from beginning to end.

- If your project involves more than 60,000 Scandinavian language documents or must be completed in a limited amount of time, I can bring in up to three additional attorneys who also specialize in reviewing Scandinavian language documents. I have worked with all three of these attorneys on past projects, I have done second attorney review of documents they have coded, and I am confident in their ability to review documents quickly and accurately. In addition, all three of the other attorneys are native speakers, something that is an absolute necessity in terms of being able to have confidence in the quality of the review.

I have above average computer skills and I am willing to become proficient with whatever type of document review software package will be used for the review. In the past, these have included Relativity, Concordance, Xerox' OmniX (previously known as XLS or Amicus) and KPMG's Forensic Technology Services (FTS) platform.

Please select the "Contact" tab to send me an email if you need CV/references, or if you are interested in discussing how I can help you with your Scandinavian language project.